"States and localities are backing off their requirements that employers give paid leave to workers with COVID-19 after death and hospitalization rates have fallen dramatically since the height of the pandemic."

"Some employers may have prepared to revise their wage and paid leave policies and practices but held off on rolling out those changes pending a decision from the appellate court. Employers that did so should not fill their trash bins with all that hard work just yet, because if the decision is appealed, the state supreme court could disagree with the appellate court and revert to the laws as envisioned by the ballot measure drafters." [Mothering Justice v. Michigan, No. 362271 (Mi. Ct. App. Jan. 26, 2023)]

"[T]he Military Leave Pay Protection Act (MLPPA) ... will require employers with 100 or more employees to supplement the pay of covered employees during a qualifying military leave for up to 30 days in a calendar year. The MLPPA takes effect February 19, 2023[.]"

"[T]he Michigan Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's July 2022 decision that had found the 2018 state legislature's 'adopt and amend' strategy violated the state constitution. As a result, Michigan employers will not be required to ... expand their paid sick leave policies." [Mothering Justice v. Michigan, No. 362271 (Mi. Ct. App. Jan. 26, 2023)]

"If not further delayed or voided, the Michigan Earned Sick Time Act will require all employers in Michigan to provide at least 72 hours of sick leave to every employee in Michigan (including exempt, non-exempt, full-time, part-time, occasional, temporary, etc.) For 'small employers' (with fewer than ten employees), at least 40 of those 72 hours must be paid, and 32 hours may be unpaid. All employers with ten or more employees, all 72 hours must be paid."

"New York's Department of Health (DOH) has posted the 2023 regional covered-lives assessment (CLA) rates and percentage surcharges for graduate medical education (GME) under the state's Health Care Reform Act (HCRA). The HCRA imposes on 'electing' health claim payors -- including self-funded plans -- an annual CLA, which is based on the number of covered individuals (and families) who live in New York.... The GME CLA rates and percentage surcharges vary among eight regions, and the applicable rate depends on where the covered individual resides or receives in-state hospital care."

"[A table outlines] updates to the state-mandated STD and PFML rates and model posters/notices available at the time of this article."

"This paper analyzes the impact of paid family leave (PFL) policies in California, New Jersey, and New York on the labor market and mental health outcomes of individuals whose spouses or children experience health shocks.... PFL access leads to a 7.0 percentage point decline in the likelihood that the (healthy) wives of individuals with medical conditions or limitations who experience a hospitalization or surgery report 'leaving a job to care for home or family' in the post-health-shock rounds."

"While multi-state employers tend to focus (appropriately) on federal requirements,  ... some states have adopted so-called individual mandates requiring individuals to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty. To support these mandates, states are requiring employers and/or carriers to provide reporting of the health coverage they have offered. [This article provides] a summary of some of these requirements."

"[C]overed employers in Illinois should start preparing now by reviewing the paid leave policies currently in place. Employers with any type of paid leave policy providing at least 40 hours of paid leave are not required to modify their policy, so long as the employee, at their discretion, can take paid leave for any reason."

"Beginning on January 1, 2023, the Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave Program's 'total premium' rate rose to 0.8% from 0.6%.... Employers with 50 or more people employed will pay at least 27.24% of the total premium, which would require their employees to pay 72.76% of the total premium."

"The Colorado Department of the Treasury on Jan. 18 announced that the Colorado SecureSavings Program is open for businesses to register with it. The Centennial State's state-sponsored retirement savings program ... is intended to provide retirement plan coverage for the up to one million private-sector employees in Colorado who lack access to one through their employers."

"Washington State's Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Program (now called 'WA Cares') ... is again set to go into effect on July 1, 2023. WA Cares will require employers to withhold a payroll tax equal to .58 percent of certain employee wages unless the employee has provided a state-issued letter of exemption to their employer prior to July 1."

"The bill ... would require nearly all employers with one or more employees working in Illinois to provide paid leave. Leave would begin to accrue on January 1, 2024 ... [C]overed employers could impose a 90-day waiting period before leave may be used. With limited exceptions, all employees would be eligible to accrue leave[.]"

"California now makes it unlawful for employers to refuse to grant eligible employees up to five days of bereavement leave. This leave is separate from any leave required by the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).... The existing [Illinois] Child Bereavement Act was renamed the Family Bereavement Leave Act and expanded to include the death of a child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner (whether recognized by law or designated as such by the employee), sibling, parent, in-law, grandparent, grandchild or stepparent."

"[SB 436] provides that an investment fiduciary [shall] discharge his or her duties in the interests of the participants in a public employee retirement system and their beneficiaries exclusively to [1] provide financial benefits and [2] pay reasonable expenses for administering the system."

"Vermont will be ... implementing a voluntary paid family leave program as of July 1, 2024.... Similar to the New Hampshire model, Vermont will be contracting with an insurance company to provide paid family and medical leave benefits on behalf of employers who purchase a policy. The VT-FMLI model differs from the more prevalent state mandate structure by offering employers an optional approach to paid family and medical leave."

"A bill likely to be enacted in Illinois will require most employers in the state to provide covered employees with up to 40 hours of paid leave per year. The leave entitlement would begin January 1, 2024, and be available 'for any purpose.' This statewide Paid Leave for All Workers Act would not cover employees receiving paid sick leave under Chicago's or Cook County's sick leave ordinances."

"Illinois employers will be required to provide a minimum of 40 hours, or a pro rata number of hours, of paid leave during a designated twelve-month period to be used for any reason of the employee's choosing. Employees are not required to give a reason for taking leave, and employers will not be permitted to require any documentation or certification of the need to take leave."

"The change in contribution rates and the Maximum Weekly Benefit Amount are relevant to employers who must comply with San Francisco's Paid Parental Leave Ordinance (PPLO). The city of San Francisco requires most employers with 20 or more employees worldwide to supplement PFL benefits received by employees to bond with a new child.... The Assessment Rate is relevant to employers that maintain a state-approved voluntary plan (VP), which is a disability insurance plan that an employer can offer to its California employees as a legal alternative to mandatory DI and PFL. "

"A newly created agency will begin collecting healthcare cost data to set statewide growth targets for healthcare costs by 2025. Healthcare transactions will be subject to new regulatory scrutiny for their impacts on cost and effect on healthcare market competition, starting in January 2024. Standards will be developed to promote alternative payment models by the end of 2024. Enforceable cost targets for payers and providers will be established by 2028."

"[T]he following limits do not adopt by reference the limits established by the IRS ... and, therefore ... for the taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2023 will be ... [1] Limit on Cash or Deferred Contributions applicable to participants in a qualified retirement plan ... (Section 1081.01(d)(7)(A)(i) of the Code) -- $15,000. [2] Limit on Additional Contributions applicable to participants in a retirement plan not sponsored by the federal government who have reached age 50 (Section 1081.01(d)(7)(C)(i) of the Code) -- $1,500. [3] Limit on Voluntary Employee After-tax Contributions applicable to participants in qualified retirement plans ... (Section 1081.01(a)(15) of the Code) -- ten percent (10%) of the participant's aggregate compensation for all years of participation in the plan."

"On January 10, 2023, the Illinois legislature passed the Paid Leave for All Workers (PLFAW) Act, making Illinois just the third state in the country (after Maine and Nevada) to require private employers to provide earned paid leave to employees to be used for any reason.... The PLFAW Act will take effect on January 1, 2024, and ... will provide nearly all Illinois workers with a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave, or a pro rata number of hours, during a designated twelve-month period."

"Michigan's and Minnesota's legislatures appear to be at the forefront of this initiative, but they are by no means the only states that will see movement in this area in 2023 ... [F]ederal contractors subject to Executive Order 13706 may need a refresher not only on their existing paid leave obligations, but on the interplay with state and local leave laws that may alter or expand their responsibilities."

"As of January 1, 2023, all Colorado employers are required to post or otherwise provide employees with the state-issued FAMLI Program notice ... and also begin deducting employees' shares of FAMLI Program premiums from employee paychecks, where applicable."